REU Research Projects

The projects described below are typical research projects. These projects were offered during previous REU programs. We expect to offer a similar array of projects for this summer. 

Sample projects in past years

• "The day the experiments died" by Blake Conley - Clarkson University
• "Single Molecule Imaging on E Coli" by Michelle Dancsecs - Tennessee Technological University
• "Electrical Properties of a Signal Cable" by Jeremy Mock Case - Western Reserve University
• "Movies of Relativistic Jets" by Kevin O’Brien
• "Monte Carlo Simulation for Kobe Meteorite" by Kelly Patton - College of Wooster
• "Cosmology, the Big Bang, WMAP" by Desiree’ Skaggs
• "Photosynthesis: study of the cytochrome b6f complex" by John Schaibley
• "J/psi Suppression" by Danielle H. Speller
• "A Phase Change in Lysozyme Crystals" by Greg Twork - Clemson University 

REU Projects abstracts (2017-2025) are part of the Physics Department Web Archive. It is no longer maintained and may not meet accessibility standards. To request content in an accessible format, contact the department's communications specialist.

Summer 2012 projects:

• "Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of Nitride Heterostructures"
  Emily Finan, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
• Geophysics: Swarm bahavior in fluid flowing through fracture networks"
  Tressa Mackin, Valencia College, FL
• "Liquid Krypton Gamma Detector & Neutron Imaging"
  Matthew Krupcale, Case Western Reserve University, OH 
• "Quantum Hall Effect"
  Zily Burstein, Loyola Marymount University, CA
• "Ultrafast X-ray Detector"
  Calvin Ebinger, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY
• "Graphene Nanomesh for Kidney Dialysis"
  Emily Ehlerdin Manchester College IN
• "Orbital Period Derivative of OAO 1657‐415"
  Joe Street, Purdue
• "Antiferromagnetic Transistors"
  Kristofer Phleger-Schumacher, Purdue
• "The Hunt For Dark Matter With Liquid Xenon"
  Gregory Pach, The University of Kansas
• "The Search for Dark Matter, and Xenon1TP"
  Jamin Rager, Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, MI
• "Investigating the Role of Entanglement in the Avian Compass"
  Abe Pauls, Goshen College, IN 

Summer 2011 projects:

• "Measuring the Effects of Ion Implantation on the Photoinduced Carrier Lifetime of Semiconductor Materials"
  Mario Johnson, Southern University and A&M College, LA
• "Gamma Ray Spectroscopy for Elemental Analysis"
  Russell Goff, Purdue University, IN
• "Computational Study of Protein Diffusion in a Membrane"
  Schneider Kate, Santa Fe College, FL
• "Study of Capped Metallic Nanoparticles with Infrared Spectroscopy"
  Melanie Pierce, University of Portland, OR
• "Investigating the Quantum Mechanism for Magnetorecption in Birds"
  Abe Pauls, Goshen College, IN
• "Biophysics:Diffusion through Biological Tissue"
• Andrew McElroy, John Carroll University, OH
• "Modeling Subaru through the LSST Simulator"
  Mary Hodge, Murray State University, KY
• "Metal Gates for p-type GaAs Heterostructures"
  Brittany Hoard, Pennsylvania State University, PA
• "Laser optics Interferometry"
  Kristen Brockway, Florida Inst. of Technology, FL
• "The Variation of Nuclear Decay Rates by Solar Influence: Part Duex"
  Sean Fancher, Purdue University, IN
• "VERITAS simulations"
  Kara Ponder, University of Georgia, GA

Summer 2010 projects:

• "Fracture properties from seismic waves"
  Nolan Teasdale, Purdue University
• "Using Micromodels to Understand the Flow of Two Fluids"
  Caroline Webb, Brown University University
• "Fluorescence of quantum dots on a graphene substrate"
  Paul Davis, University of Louisville
• "Bose-Einstein Condensates"
  Conrad Hawkins, Purdue University
• "Spin Noise Spectroscopy of Rubidium"
  David Blasing, Wheaton College
• "Laser Control for Atom Trapping and Cooling"
  Roger Ding, Mary's College of Maryland
• "Picosecond X-ray Detector for Synchrotrons"
  Jason Boomsma, Anderson University
• "Quantum Computing"
  Laura Sisken, Missouri Univ. of Science and Technology
• "Supernova Remnants as Cosmic Ray Accelerants"
  Jamie Overbeek, Michigan State
• "Large Synoptic Survey Telescope optics simulations"
  Ahmad, Southeast Missouri State University
• "Catalytic Water Oxidation by Ruthenium Complexes"
  Jessica Webb, East Tennessee State University
• "Intersubband Transitions in Semiconductor Heterostructures"
  Lisa Nash, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Summer 2009 projects:

• "Chondrites & Chondrules"
  Corwin Atwood-Stone, College of Wooster
• "Efficiency of Gamma Ray Detectors"
  Amanda Barnett, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
• Gold/Platinum Nanoparticles"
  Courtney Byard, University of Louisville
• "Simulation on the Response of the STAR HFT Pixel Detector"
  Alex Cimaroli, Purdue University
• "Higgs Analysis for the CMS"
  Lee Coates, Purdue University
• "Higgs Boson Analysis, Part II"
  Amelia Uecker, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
• "Achieving Super Resolution Using Quantum Dots"
  Nicholas Fitzsimmons, Florida State University
• "Manganese Neurotoxicity"
  Meghan Kohne, DePauw University
• "Wilson Loops in Large N Field Theories"
  Matthew Krafczyk, University of Illinois Urbana
• "Molecular Beam Epitaxy"
  Shaun Mills, Grove City College
• "Bs to J/Psi-y"
  Nishanth Sasankan, Purdue University
• "Laser Speckle: application for trapping"
  Joel Sleppy, Washington University in St. Louis
• "Gamma-Ray Luminosity in Pulsar Wind Nebulae"
  Eleanor Terry-Welsh, WPI
• "Atmospheric Characterization of El Penon: The Site of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope"
  Mallory Young, Hendrix College